Stowaway
by Kallamae
Summary: The Ebon Hawk has housed heroes and villians, rich men and slaves, droids and gizka. Once, it was even home to a stowaway. This is her story.


Sasha's heart raced wildly as she scurried back into the small shelter of a half-hidden access panel in the cargo hold. The panel latched quietly behind her as she slipped inside and dropped down into her hiding place. She held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut in the naïve belief that if she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her. Heavy footsteps rang out on the metallic flooring of the ship, but she could barely hear them over the thumping of her own heartbeat.

Huddled in a frightened ball, she focused intently on the sounds of several people walking away from the cargo hold. She let out a silent sigh of relief and slowly opened one eye. When the footsteps became little more than an echo, she opened her other eye and leaned back against the cold metal wall of the crawl space. Tiny shafts of dim light shone through the grated panel to light the small nook that had become home. She brushed dirty blonde hair away from her face and took a long, calming breath.

Gathering her courage, she sat up tall on her knees to peek out at the rest of the cargo hold. Her wide hazel eyes surveyed the room slowly, triple-checking the doorway for the telltale shadow of an approaching person. Once satisfied that she was safe again, she emptied her pockets of the treasures she had gathered. She neatly stacked rations in one corner of her hideout. A small pile of empty wrappers sat next to the new pile. A red and blue card with a /- 3 printed on the bottom half was lovingly paced next to her "friend" Casey, a bit of scrap metal which had a crude smiling face scratched into it.

She folded the threadbare blankets into a rather comfortable bed and curled up. Within minutes, she was asleep, the terror of her exertions quickly forgotten in the innocent sleep of childhood.

Her dreams of a cozy farmhouse surrounded by golden fields of grass lazily blowing in the wind were interrupted by a growl that echoed through the hold. She nearly screamed as she bolted awake, but stifled the reflex before it could betray her. Just in case, though, she clapped one hand over her mouth before she sat up to peek out through the metal grating.

The blue girl and her monster slave were standing over the food crates. The monster waved his arms at the girl, but she didn't flinch. She said something Sasha couldn't understand and gestured at one of the crates. Her slave kneeled down and began looking through the ration bars. If he was counting them, life was going to get a lot harder.

He roared as he stood up again. The blue girl shook her head and made a funny face. The slave growled once more, but the girl merely reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder to quiet him. She spoke again and the monster slave left the room. Before following him out, the blue girl's eyes made a sweep of the cargo hold. Sasha immediately dropped her head down below the grated metal panel.

Tears dropped down on the hand still held over her mouth. Only the bad men had monster slaves like that. The blue girl didn't look like one of the bad men, but she must have been just as mean to make a slave like that listen to her. And they knew she was here. They knew there was food missing.

Sasha collapsed into her makeshift bed and buried her face in the scratchy blankets. If they caught her, they would hurt her. Probably worse than the bad men ever had.

She reached out one small hand to the neat pile of ration bars she'd stolen the previous evening. They wouldn't last her very long. Sooner or later she would have to venture out again for more food. She would just have to be extra careful from now on. And maybe the blue girl and her monster slave would get off at the next stop and everything would be okay again.

The thought was enough to dry her tears. With a glimmer of hope to ease her mind, the gentle hum of the engines lulled her back to sleep.

When Sasha woke again, the cargo hold was silent. No bad men or blue girls or monsters slaves stood waiting to capture her. She allowed herself an audible sigh as she settled back down into her little "room".

Still mindful of her situation, she only ate half a ration bar for breakfast. In consolation she imagined each bite was a big warm joraberry muffin. As long as she kept her eyes closed, she could taste the sweet berries. And when the stale flavor of ration bar overpowered it, she took a long sip from the water pouch to wash it away.

After carefully folding the wrapper around the leftover half of her breakfast, Sasha wished her friend, Casey, a good morning. She reminded the crude face etched into scrap metal to be very quiet. They would have to be triple cautious now.

She spent a long time playing with her friend and her new card. The beams of light that shone into her hiding spot were just bright enough to show the colors change when she pressed the bottom right corner. Holding the card exactly in the light, she could see the top half change from blue to red and back to blue again. A +3 appeared each time the top half turned blue and a -3 when it changed to red. It was the best thing she'd ever found.

The morning's revelry was broken by the warning sound of approaching footsteps. Sasha had just enough time to place Casey and the color-changing card back in the safe corner of the crawl space before the people arrived in the cargo hold. She sat back on her heels and listened intently to the voices of a man and a woman. Even though she couldn't understand their words, she recognized the anger in the man's tone.

Very slowly, Sasha sat up on her knees and leaned toward the bottom of the metal grating. From her peek-hole she could see most of the room. What she saw sent a cold shiver through her small frame.

One of the bad men was here.

She recognized the strange mark on his right arm. All the bad men had marks there. Sasha's mind raced. The blue girl must have told him about her. He was here to find her and take her back to the big ship with all the slaves.

Her eyes focused on the long sword in his hand. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from whimpering. He was walking toward her. He would find her. Tears welled up in her eyes. He would drag her out of her hiding spot and he would hurt her so bad she'd never be able to escape again.

He barked out a few words Sasha couldn't understand as he advanced. Just when she thought he would rip the access panel off and catch her, he whipped around to face the doorway.

The woman, whose voice she'd heard earlier, was there now. She quickly surveyed the room before locking gazes with the bad man. Smiling bravely, she raised her own weapon and leapt at him.

Sasha's eyes grew wide. Ignoring the risk of being seen, she pressed closer against the grating to watch the battle. The woman was shorter than the bad man, but she jumped up on crates to stay above him. She blocked every attempt he made at hitting her.

Sasha held her breath as the woman backed the man into a corner. He fought back viscously, but the woman held her ground. Finally the bad man dropped his weapon and held his hands up in surrender.

The woman would kill him now. That's what happened to anyone who lost a fight. Sasha had seen it once before on the big ship full of bad men. She cringed away, not wanting to see the blood.

But instead of the man's screams, she heard the woman laugh. It was light and friendly. Sasha looked back at the scene. The woman scooped up the bad man's sword and handed him a water pouch. She sat on one of the crates and opened a pouch for herself.

Between sips of water, the woman spoke to the bad man. Sasha couldn't understand her, but her voice didn't sound angry like the others. And she didn't kill the man.

The defeated man finished his water pouch and walked slowly out of the cargo hold. The woman followed him still carrying both swords. Sasha heard her laugh once more as their footsteps drifted away to another part of the ship.

Awe overpowered Sasha's fears. That woman wasn't like the others. She was nice. She didn't hurt the man. He gave up and she just gave him water. If anyone would help Sasha, it was that woman.

It was a few more days before Sasha saw the woman again. She came to the cargo hold alone with her arms full of armor and weapons. When the woman turned to place the supplies in storage crates, Sasha timidly crept out of her hiding place.

The woman gave a little gasp of surprise when she turned back around. She spoke strange words as her eyes appraised the little girl standing before her.

"Please," Sasha's voice cracked. Her heart was racing. "Don't hurt me."

The woman's eyes squinted in confusion. She said something incomprehensible again and kneeled down. The woman smiled and held out her hand.

Sasha took a half step back.

The woman pulled her hand back. She pursed her lips for a moment and then smiled again. "Kiryn Maar," she said pointing at herself. "Kiryn," she pointed again and Sasha understood.

Sasha smiled. "Sasha," she pointed to herself. "I'm Sasha."

The woman, Kiryn, nodded. "Sasha," she repeated and pointed to the girl.

The rest of the woman's words were just a jumble of sounds, but Sasha knew it would be okay. She'd been right about the woman. Kiryn would help her.

Kiryn offered her hand again. This time Sasha took it.


End file.
